This essay originally appeared in Data Sheet, Coins2Day’s daily tech newsletter. Sign up here.
It’s that time of year again: Next Monday, July 11, we kick off our annual gathering of top executives, entrepreneurs, and investors at the Aspen Institute in Colorado.
This will be my sixth year participating in Coins2Day‘s Brainstorm Tech conference, and I’m sure it will be different from every year in the past. The very nature of technology—and our economy and everything else in our lives—is that it is constantly changing. Just one year ago, we wouldn’t have thought that Netflix shows would be available on Comcast. Or that Donald Trump would become a viable presidential candidate. Or, even less believable, that raw cookie dough would turn out to be bad for you. (But it tastes sooo good!)
There are two constants, however, when it comes to our three-day pilgrimage to Aspen. First, I am always excited by the stellar and diverse lineup of participants, both on and off stage. This year, I will be interviewing leaders of Magic Leap, The Walt Disney Co. (DIS), and Legendary Entertainment, among others. (Any burning questions for any of them? Send me an email or Tweet please.) My colleagues will lead discussions with the CEOs of Dropbox, DraftKings, Girls Who Code, Cisco Systems (CSCO), Intel (INTC), PayPal (PYPL), TaskRabbit, Virgin Galactic, WeWork, Airbnb, and more. Oh, yeah, and we just announced that the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green will be there too! (Some sessions will be livestreamed at Coins2Day.com, so check out the entire schedule.)
Fun and games at Brainstorm Tech 2015:
The other constant is that I always fly to Denver and then drive to Aspen. This is mostly due to my ridiculous fear of flying, but it has become a ritual I look forward to every year. Our conference isn’t just about techies getting together to talk about their most recent valuations—not that this would be the best year for that conversation anyway. For those of us fortunate enough to go, it is also an opportunity to think and brainstorm about the tech industry’s role in the world at large. Driving through the awe-inspiring Colorado mountains is a great way to get those conversations started, at least in my head. And yes, I do realize that flying is, statistically speaking, safer than driving.